NEPTUNE: A Brighter Future

*SPECIAL FEATURE*

For a period of six years, a group of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have been observing changes in Neptune’s southern hemisphere. Over the years, the cloud bands there have been gradually becoming brighter and wider. According to scientists, this indicates seasonal change.

First spotted in 1846, Neptune is well known for temperamental weather – it has severe gusts of wind blowing at up to 2000 km/h and violent storms raging for long periods of time. Neptune is, in fact, named after the Roman god of the sea – perhaps because it is blue like the sea, or because he (the god) had a passionate temper and often created typhoons and cyclones.

Lawrence Sromovsky, a senior scientist from Wisconsin-Madison’s Space Science and Engineering Centre who has been researching Neptune’s atmosphere, thinks the change is likely to be a response to seasonal variations in sunlight – like the seasonal changes we have here on earth. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the team from Wisconsin-Madison and JPL have indeed clarified the fact: Neptune has seasons. What makes this so surprising is the fact that Neptune is so far away from the sun – an estimated 4, 497 million km. Until now, scientists have always thought that this distance was too far for the planet’s tilt (29.6 º) to result in seasons.

  At the moment, the southern hemisphere of the planet is enjoying a lovely springtime – and will be for the next twenty years. For, as with Earth, the planet has four seasons. Unlike Earth, however, each season can take up to forty years.

  Sromovsky says that when the sun deposits heat energy into an atmosphere, it forces a response. In his view, “we would expect heating in the hemisphere getting the most sunlight. This in turn could force rising motions, condensation and increased cloud cover.” These indications have been found, but only in the southern hemisphere.

  “Neptune’s nearly constant brightness at low latitudes gives us confidence that what we are seeing is indeed seasonal change as those changes would be minimal near the equator and most evident at high latitudes where the seasons tend to be more pronounced.” Says Sromovsky.

However, scientists have only answered one of Neptune’s many mysteries. According to Sromovsky, “the planet remains an enigma”. In this, Neptune is not alone. We still have the whole Universe at our feet, waiting to be explored.

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